(AFP) – US President Donald Trump on Monday said he convinced French President Emmanuel Macron to accept his demands on drug prices as he pushes for lower costs for Americans. Speaking from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, the 79-year-old Republican told the story he had previously shared at a rally Friday.
“I spoke to a very good man, President Macron of France, and I said, ‘Emmanuel, you have to raise your drug prices.’ He said, ‘No, no, no, we will not do that.’ I said, ‘You have to’,” Trump said, adopting a plaintive tone in his imitation of the French leader. Trump said Macron continued to resist, but the American president insisted, saying “Emmanuel, you’re going to do it, 100 percent. Please accept it now. Be nice. You’re going to do it 100 percent.”
The impasse persisted until Trump allegedly issued a threat and said, “If you don’t do it, I’m going to put a 25 percent tariff on everything France sells into the United States of America.” Trump maintains that Macron then said “I see,” and relented.
The US president has repeatedly called for drug prices to be raised in Europe, arguing that this would help US drug costs fall. This summer, Washington reached a tariffs deal with the European Union that sets a 15 percent tax on most European experts to the US market. Since then, there has been no presidential announcement or decision in France regarding drug prices.
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